Parents Reporting Adverse Childhood Experiences Among Young Children With Disabilities: Informing Systems Transformation

2018 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 162-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Songtian Zeng ◽  
Xiaoyi Hu

This study provides new insights regarding the associations and risk factors of nine specific adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and young children (0–5 years of age) with disabilities. Utilizing the 2016 National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) dataset ( N = 14,494), we conducted descriptive analysis and regressions with complex survey weighting procedure. The results suggested that one in three children (35.0%) with disabilities would have at least one ACE. The prevalence rates of experiencing the nine specific ACEs were much higher for children with disabilities. Importantly, the five most prevalent ACEs for children with disabilities were hard to cover basic food and housing (40.9%), parental divorce (24.3%), alcohol/drug problems (11.1%), parent or guardian incarceration (10.6%), and adult abuse (6.8%), which were all related to family challenges. We identified several key child/family risk factors (e.g., child age, marital status, adult health) that helped inform cross-system screening, referral, and collaboration opportunities. A discussion about policy implication and further research directions is provided.

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esme Fuller-Thomson ◽  
Jessica P. Liddycoat ◽  
Maria Stefanyk

Aims. To examine the relationship between a history of parental addictions and the cumulative lifetime incidence of arthritis while controlling for age, sex, race, and four clusters of risk factors: (1) other adverse childhood experiences, (2) adult health behaviors (i.e., smoking, obesity, inactivity, and alcohol consumption), (3) adult socioeconomic status and (4) mental health. Materials and Methods. Secondary analysis of 13,036 Manitoba and Saskatchewan respondents of the population-based 2005 Canadian Community Health Survey. Sequential logistic regression analyses were conducted. Findings. After controlling for demographic characteristics, including age, gender, and race, respondents who reported a history of parental addictions had significantly higher odds of arthritis in comparison to individuals without (OR=1.58; 95% CI 1.38–1.80). Adjustment for socioeconomic status, adult health behaviors, and mental health conditions had little impact on the parental addictions and arthritis relationship. The association between parental addictions and arthritis was substantially reduced when adverse childhood experiences (OR=1.33; 95% CI 1.15–1.53) and all four groups of risk factors collectively (OR=1.30; 95% CI = 1.12–1.51) were included in the analyses; however, the relationship remained statistically significant. Conclusions. A robust association was found between parental addictions and cumulative lifetime incidence of arthritis. This link remained even when controlling for four groups of potential risk factors.


2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 582-591 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paraniala Silas C. Lui ◽  
Michael P. Dunne ◽  
Philip Baker ◽  
Verzilyn Isom

Compared with many parts of the world, there has been little research in Pacific Island nations into the effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on adult health. This is a significant gap for local evidence-based child protection. We describe findings from a survey of 400 men aged 18 to 70 years recruited from randomly sampled households in Honiara city, Solomon Islands. Most men reported multiple adversities during childhood (80.7% 3 or more; 46% 5 or more), such as exposure to community and domestic violence, bullying, physical maltreatment, and sexual abuse. Men with multiple ACEs had significantly lower well-being and more psychological distress, recent stressful life events, and health risk behaviors. This study reports the first observation that betel quid chewing increased as a function of multiple ACEs. In comparison with recent East Asian studies, the Solomon Islands data suggest that the collective geographic category of “Asia-Pacific” masks significant intraregional differences in childhood adversities.


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